Near Protocol launches Intense cross-chain swaps on Stellar, enabling seamless native asset exchanges across 20+ chains without bridges. The integration went live August 19th and allows users to swap Bitcoin, Dogecoin, XRP, and other assets directly to XLM and USDC on Stellar with a single click.
Ada from Stellar Development Foundation and Harshith from Near Foundation discuss the launch of Near Intense on Stellar, a cross-chain swapping protocol that went live August 19th. Intense enables intent-based swaps across 20+ chains without traditional bridges, complex workflows, or waiting periods. The integration allows users to swap native assets like Bitcoin, Dogecoin, XRP, and Litecoin directly to XLM and USDC on Stellar. Harshith explains that Intense abstracts routing and asset handling for users, while developers can integrate via a simple one-click swap API. The conversation covers use cases including lending markets, derivatives, and future agentic commerce. Developers like Serge enabled XLM support in under two hours using the API. Near plans to expand asset support, enable streaming swaps and cross-chain lending, and launch agentic commerce features in Q1-Q2 2025.